Tempest took a deep breath and closed her eyes, calming herself. She knew that Luke could see her for the bundle of nervousness that she was. She opened her eyes, and the lock that kept them out of the Training Center gave a soft click.

“Come on, this way.” She yanked the door open and slipped inside.

“Are you sure this is legal?” Luke asked as they wound their way down dark corridors toward the center of the building.

“Legal? Heck no,” she replied. “Of course, being a Master, I could make up some excuse and no one would question me. Still, lurking about in the Training Center in the middle of the night would make anyone a bit suspicious.” After moving through a myriad of doors and hallways, they arrived at the edge of the center court, a large, glassed-in, wildly overgrown arboretum. Alden was there, waiting.

“Child,” he greeted Tempest warmly, embracing her in a fatherly bear hug. “Who is your friend?”

“Luke clan Skywalker. He’s come from…very far away to find me. He can be trusted.”

Alden made a sound of approval and sized Luke up. “This is no small thing, to gain the trust of this girl. I commend you,” he smiled, “and warn you. If you should break faith with this child, you will not believe me to be the old man I appear to be.”

“I understand. I guard her with my own life.”

Alden nodded, then turned back to Tempest. “Are you ready, child?”

She took a deep breath, her voice nearly shaking with nervousness and excitement. “The people of Ricalia have given me the title of Swordmaster. I want nothing more than to have that same honor from you. Tell me what I am to do.”

“Enter,” Alden said, indicating a heavily reinforced door that opened into the arboretum; the locks unlatched at his touch. Tempest seemed shocked for a moment, but she squared her shoulders and prepared to stride in. The feeling of darkness that streamed through the open door nearly made her retch.

“Tempest!” Alden called after her. Her pale face turned back to him. “Your sword. You cannot take it.”

Tempest’s face whitened by another degree. For an instant she seemed to be truly frozen, biting on her lip until it nearly bled. Her eyes met Alden’s, and she reached for her scabbard belt buckle. The leather strap came away from her waist; carefully she wrapped the belt around the scabbard, and then handed the whole thing to Alden. Weaponless and with unbelievable trust she strode into the enclosure. The door swung shut behind her without a sound. Alden turned away from the clear panels, weak.

Tempest stopped in the center of the mad tangle of shrubs and greenery. A grove of trees stood before her, the plants small in number but not in stature. The double moons were at their zenith and should have abolished the kind of murky darkness that was tangled within that grove. That darkness seemed to be a live thing, owing its existence to no life-cast shadow. Here was the apex of the Training Center, this heart of darkness that could mask the presence of nearly half the town from the Hederon. Tempest had been in the caverns below this very spot, where her people could hide in case of attack, and she had wished that she were anywhere else than in those caves. Now she wished she could sink back into the ground to where she had been before.

Here it is Darker than the Streak in my mind. If I can win through this, I can trust myself in anything…

Trying not to breathe the oppressively evil, cold air, she strode into the trees. The darkness seemed to swallow her, blotting out the brilliant moonlight. She tried to convince herself that the trees weren’t reaching for her, feeling as if she was the brunt of some horribly written horror-thriller. A sibilant hiss slithered through the air. She instinctively reached for her sword even as she remembered it wasn’t there. Feeling naked, she turned to the sound.

“So, they finally sent me young blood to feast upon.”

Tempest started. A figure breathed out from the trees, tall and emaciated. “Such a pretty offering,” he crooned. “A delectable morsel…”

“I am no offering for you,” Tempest spat, suddenly repulsed and not frightened. “You can’t have me, Hederon spawn.”

He chuckled, a low, cold laugh. “No? Why do you think that beloved Master of yours has sent you here? He knows what I need…” He smiled, his features shifting and changing, sometimes beautiful, sometimes beastly, sometimes shadow-wraith, showing the true Hederon within. He prowled in a circle around Tempest, backing her into a tree. “I was a Seer before I learned the true nature of things. Before I started on the road to true power and was imprisoned here, a novelty. My brothers are needed to make my change complete, and I am trapped here in this infuriating half-state…” Suddenly enraged, he smashed his fists into the trunk on either side of Tempest’s head. His eyes, inches from hers, seemed to sink into her soul. He laughed harshly and stepped back. “I can still See. You…ah, you, girl! The destroyer, the un-maker, the whirlwind that will rip life apart…yes, a most fitting sacrifice. You can complete me, finish the change that I have started…having consumed your life, I could make my way from here and claim the glory the sisters Fate and Destiny have allotted you…”

“Stop!” Tempest screamed. “You will not have me!”

“Shame, child,” he taunted her. “How can you fight me? Where is your sword? Your Master has destroyed you. For I have the greatest weapon.” Tempest felt an abrupt rending in her mind, and her thoughts were inexplicably laid bare. The shield, her one protection, was gone. She looked at the being with panic. “Yes,” he crooned. “Your own mind. Your greatest fears, worst hatreds, all are mine… Ah! So you fear only that one thing?” He chuckled. “How altruistic. Your one fear…” His form shifted again, and Tempest was looking at a mirror image of herself, a clone with evil fire in her eyes and smile twisted by cruelty. “So,” her own voice mocked her, “do you know this person? When I leave this place and devour the two fools outside, no one will know the change. My kin can take the city—all will be blissful chaos…”

Tempest cried out. A strange fury rose within her.

“See, I can manipulate you,” her image went on. “There is nothing you hate more than yourself, is there? Nothing terrifies and sickens you more than what’s lurking in your own mind. I am you.” Tempest felt a blind rage take over, her body sparking with it. “Let me in, Brightshadow, and you will be only shadow, let me in…” the creature with the fire-eyes crooned, reaching with evil hands for Tempest’s face.

“No!” Tempest sobbed. “Alden! Master!”

“He cannot help you!” it rejoiced. Tempest heard, faintly, someone call her name and pound on the locked door. Her rage was growing unchecked even as another part of her mind cried out in pain. She seemed to bristle with evil power. The Hederon breathed joyously on her cheek.

“You’re right!” she wept. “Forgive me! I hate—!”

The fire within her burst out, scorching her hands. The Hederon squealed in pleasure, absorbing the fire thrust at it as one would eat a dessert. She was making it stronger; hate couldn’t hurt the shadow-wraith.

I hate me.

The new knowledge let her win. She turned her fire-spitting palms inward, holding the blue-green flame to herself. Here is my enemy! Destroy it! The energy grew up about her, launching from her hands to dance about her head and chest. She shook with the agony of it, cried out in pain, but wouldn’t allow it to stop. The Hederon bellowed in rage as Tempest writhed under her own attack. It lurched toward her, but suddenly changed its mind and ran shrieking back into the deeper protection of the grove. Tempest gurgled and fell to the ground, energy spent, as Luke pounded up to her, her sword in hand, shouting her name. She was dimly aware of being picked up and a jolting ride back to the door. Her sword seemed to shimmer with indigent light, and Luke’s hand had been burnt by the hilt. He didn’t appear to notice.

Alden took her at the doorway. When she next opened her eyes, Tempest was lying in Alden’s guest-room, head pounding and with a fire in every muscle.

“Master,” she whispered, “I am sorry to have failed you…”

“Swordmaster Tempest Brightshadow, clan SkyWalker, you do not fail. You would destroy yourself before letting the dark take you. That is the only knowledge I need, the only test you had to take. You did not fail.” He stroked her hair, his hands drawing the pain from her. “One who is like my daughter, sleep. Rest and be at peace.” His soothing voice and gentle hand lulled her, and she dropped off, exhausted. At her side a voice seemed to whisper, and she breathed the name it spoke as sleep took her—the name she had not been ready to hear in the heat of battle years before.

Sefu.

It was not far from dawn when Tempest and Luke made the walk through the dim streets to Tempest’s home. As the door shut quietly behind her, Tempest went over her argument again.

“I can’t go with you. My training has nothing to do with it. My parents can’t hold the shields by themselves. Without my help, the Force would discover them. I can’t leave them here. And you know they can’t leave here, either. You said, and I feel myself, that they won’t be allowed to leave.”

“I understand that what I’m asking you to do is not easy. There is evil elsewhere in the galaxy besides here, and there are many others who need your help. You might be the one to save them…”

“…Or the one to destroy everything,” she said darkly.

“That demon saw only one alternative. Alden is a Seer too, you know that.”

“I remember,” she said. Remembered asking if the Hederon had spoken the truth. “He does, child,” he had replied, “but he tells only half. You live true to your name, Tempest. You are the storm that could end the famine or bring the flood that destroys us all. You are on the brink of it all, child. It is a horrid thing to do, to send one that you love out with the knowledge that this responsibility is on them. But I believe you to have the strength to choose the right way. You are the bright beacon in our future. Do not forget that.”

“I know Alden believes in me,” Tempest said, bringing her thoughts back to the present. “But how are we to know? Maybe by leaving me here you’ll be saving the universe. Your dream could have been sent by the Hederon.”

“Tempest…”

“The bottom line is, I’m not going. Do you know how hard it is for me to say that? Ever since my brother left here, I’ve wanted to do the same, to escape the Force and not have to live like I do…and I feel as if I betrayed him. I promised I’d meet him someday. But I’m not about to betray my parents on top of that, and abandon them to their fate here. I love them too much to do that.”

She sat on the floor in the middle of the room, her love and ambitions warring within her. Luke was silent, but he finally drew a deep breath.

“I understand, and I value your morals. I’ll be leaving.” He turned at the door. “I hope that someday our paths will cross again.”

“As do I,” Tempest murmured, eyes closed.

The door shut.

“Are you okay? Did something happen last night?” Kella questioned insistently at the Academy the next day. She seemed extremely worried, having hardly eaten anything at lunch. She had spent most of the meal frowning at Tempest in silence, somehow sensing that something serious was troubling her friend.

“No, I’m fine…it’s just, well, I didn’t get a lot of sleep. Was out battling demons and all. But I’ll tell you about it later somewhere safer.”

Kella nodded, understanding, but not entirely convinced that everything was fine. Tempest seemed to move through the day without any notice to the events that happened around her. During her last class she excused herself on the pretense of getting something to drink, but in fact sat in the washroom fighting back tears.

What would the first Brightshadows have done? We always had to hold together, we’ve always been held in suspicion…they would never leave one of their own in danger…Mom and Dad, I can’t leave them in— Her mind jerked. Something jumped in her heart.

“Mom, Dad…?” Her eyes frenzied with panic. “Oh, no. No no no no no no no…”

Launching herself from the washroom and erupting through the school doors, she began the fastest sprint home she had ever achieved.

Her house was no longer her home. The building where she had spent so much of her life had been converted to something one would see in the news bulletins and gawk over. Two Force transports were parked there, one on the street and another crushing the wildflowers that sprung cheerily from the lawn. Officers in their black uniforms were hovering everywhere, feeling the place out, trying to find anything that had the least hint of dark influence. Tempest had come to a dead stop upon seeing all of this, and somehow managed to put the “appropriate” look of revulsion and disgust on her face, even though her heart had gone completely numb. One of the Officers spotted her statue-still form and hurried over.

“Master Brightshadow? No doubt you know what has happened…”

“Yes,” she said dully, allowing herself to be led to the house. “Is it both of them?”

“Regrettably. They turned themselves in not two hours ago. Things will go better for them because of that; it shows that they want to be helped.”

They want their minds erased as much as you want my sword through your heart. “Of course.”

At that moment her mother was led from the house, bound but not struggling. Tempest couldn’t believe the air of calm that surrounded her. She seemed to be at peace, even…

“May I speak to them?”

“As you wish, Swordmaster.”

Keeping up the act, behaving as was expected of her, was the hardest thing Tempest had ever done. One should be repulsed to find out that one’s parents were Dark. Tempest’s thoughts raged between the rescue of her parents and her own surrender, but her Imitation skills were too well ingrained in her.

“They have found you, Nara.” Calling her “mother” would be wrong.

“Yes, they have found us. And now you are free.”

The words hit Tempest like a blow. Those words explained everything. They had heard her argument with Luke and were giving her leave to go in the only way she would heed. Tempest’s heart cracked, and her act nearly went with it. Only by bowing her head in supposed shame was she able to regain her composure.

Both of the condemned were led to the same transport, and that sparked hope in Tempest. Perhaps they will be allowed to stay together. Families were usually taken one person to a vehicle and would never remember each other, let alone see each other again.

An Officer spoke as her parents entered the transport. “Nara Brightshadow, Kamau Ilom, you have willingly revealed yourselves to be Streaked. By doing this you have agreed to undergo treatment, through which some or all of your memories may be lost…” The transport door hissed shut, and before the vehicle moved away, Tempest could see her parents sign a document the Officer held forth.

Tempest was sick in the bushes.

Another Black uniform appeared at her side. “Master Brightshadow, I know this to me a horrible thing for you. No doubt you are disgusted with the whole affair—”

No, Hederon spawn, it is you I am disgusted with.

Tempest went with them in the second transport and spent the most wretched three hours of her life making up lies that would be pleasing for the Force to hear. She was finally left alone in a meeting-room in the Training Center. Alden had spoken with her for the Force’s benefit, saying all the right things about the shock of finding one’s loved ones to be dark scum. She couldn’t stay in the Center, not even for the relative comfort of Alden’s sympathetic company. The thought of her house, empty of those who made it home, held no solace whatsoever. There was one place left, one haven, and as soon as she was out of sight of the Center she ran for it like a Hederon was on her heels.

She beat on the door before her, and an answer was not long in coming. Within moments Tempest had stumbled indoors and was sobbing to Kella the few words she could get out.

“The…the Force…”

Her friend drew her breath, a flash of shock and horror crossing her face. “What happened?” she asked worriedly, leading Tempest to a seat in the living room.

“My…my parents…” she choked.

Kella sighed, a sympathetic sigh filled with shared sadness and grief. Tempest’s heart was broken over the loss of her parents, but Kella’s was also aching. “Oh, Tempest…” She blinked suddenly stinging eyes and hugged the other girl comfortingly, stroking her hair soothingly.

Tempest cried for a long time.

The woodland hideout had always been a place of refuge to Tempest. She slumped in one corner of the small one-room treehouse, unable to weep anymore. Her hair was mussed and sticking up all over the place, her face an unnatural shade of red, and she was unable to stop shaking. The forest was brightly lit, but all that she could see were the shadows. All that was left in her life was to exist with no purpose. She closed her eyes and tried vainly to sleep.

The creak of the narrow stair-ladder told her that someone was climbing up to her, but she didn’t open her eyes. She didn’t care who found her any longer.

“Tempest?”

It was Luke. He hadn’t left yet, apparently. “I saw the news announcement. I knew you were out here somewhere, but I couldn’t find you… I’m so sorry, Tempest, I never thought your Force knew…”

“They didn’t,” she cut him off. “My parents heard us talking last night, and they turned themselves in.” Telling the story again only deadened her. There was no emotion left. Luke said nothing; any words he could have said would have sounded hollow to her.

The stairway creaked. Tempest shot up in surprise as she saw who it was.

“Kella! I told you not to come here; it’s too dangerous for you!”

“I know, Tempest, but I had to talk with you.” The girl refused Luke’s hand to help her up the last steps. Tempest didn’t see the look of alarm on his face.

“Now, I can’t say anything for sure. All I know is that I’ve been hearing people talking—saying that there’s a rumor that two Streaked who were taken this afternoon have escaped. I didn’t dare ask any questions, but—”

“I understand.” Tempest was electrified. “Kella, if it’s true…”

“Tempest!” She was startled by Luke’s tone. “Can’t you see?”

“Of course, my parents may not be lost; they could even be on their way here…”

“No! That…thing…in front of you…”

“Luke!” Fire blazed in Tempest’s eyes. “This is my friend—”

“You are being deceived!” he started, but Kella cut him off.

“Who do you think you are? Tempest and I have been friends for years! How many hard times have you helped her through?” Her eyes flashed. “Leave us alone.”

“I don’t know what you see, Tempest, but I don’t see your friend standing before you.” He raised his voice over Kella’s outburst of protest. “I see a copy of that creature you killed the day I met you.”

The silence was deadly.

Tempest was about to tell him that there was no better way to kill her respect for him when Kella spat out, “Short-eared smeg!”

Tempest looked at Kella in shock. Her friend’s swearing was enough to startle her, but what she saw was even worse. Kella’s eyes, those kindly windows to her mind, were gone… A spike of ice shot through her.

Kella screamed, the Hederon engulfing her, and the sword flashed down…a name she hadn’t heard… Sefu couldn’t harm her, there was too much of Tempest there…

“Kella, you know you are my most trusted friend.” When the girl grinned, there was something wrong with her smile. Tempest shuddered. “So take no offense. My sword refused to harm you once before.” It had killed the Hederon and spared the living girl. With a swift movement and a prayer that she was doing the right thing, she drew her sword and brought it singing down on her friend.

Kella’s shriek belonged to no living thing.

For an instant Tempest saw Kella flicker, to be replaced by the shadow of an enraged Hederon. With a final, agonizing note, the creature was sucked out of existence by a spurt of light. Tempest blinked. Sefu glinted in the afternoon light. The hideout was empty, save for Luke and herself. Tempest sat down, suddenly weary.

“They were getting into my mind, making me see what they wanted. I let them in with my self-pity and grief.” She slammed her sword’s point into the floorboards. “One step closer to joining them. And they almost got me. Everything I have ever struggled for in my life, this close to being absorbed by them.” She leaned out the open window, leaving her sword quivering. “You can’t have me,” she screamed. “I fight!” Her voice silent, she sat again and drew a deep breath.

Luke watched all of this silently. Tempest knew he had only come to offer her comfort, but she was now ready to give him something in return.

“The Force took my family from me. The Hederon would try to take me away from myself.” She flung open a chest and dug out a large knapsack, which got tossed onto the floor. The knapsack was followed by other things, the small things that make up one’s memories. “My parents did what they did to save others. They were willing to sacrifice, and here I sit wallowing in my own misery, defiling their memories of me by wasting their last gift. If it weren’t for you, I would have failed them.” She looked at Luke, an open, piercing, resolute stare. “I can fight still. My parents no longer need me, but there are others. I can remember my parents by helping them.” She tied the knapsack shut and yanked an ankle-length, silvery gray cloak over her shoulders. “The watch in the Force HQ changes at three this morning. For a time, they won’t be as observant. If we’re to get off this world, we’ll need to leave then.”

“You are coming.” It wasn’t a question.

“I have a few things I need to do first. But I’m coming with you.”

¤ ¤ ¤

Chapter 3: Leaving

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